1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a secondary projectile for a tandem warhead including a forwardly located active charge, a rearwardly located active charge and a fuze which is arranged therebetween, and whose triggering direction is oriented towards the forwardly located active charge, whereby the transmission of the ignition or triggering is implemented forwardly through the intermediary of a booster charge and towards the rear through the use of a cross-triggering device.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
During house-to-house or urban combat or in action against various kinds of coverings for enemy forces, there is a need for the provision of inexpensive weapons and ammunition. Through the disclosure of published European Patent No. A1-058 63 642, there is already known a warhead which incorporates a tandem charge. The warhead possesses a main or primary charge which is constructed as a hollow charge and a smaller-caliber follow-up charge. Upon the warhead striking against the target, the hollow charge punches a passageway through the target. The secondary projectile, which is constructed as a fragmentation projectile, penetrates through this passageway into the target and detonates behind the target with a fragmentation effect. The secondary projectile is conveyed through the passageway on the basis alone of its inertial force upon the impact of the warhead. There is no requirement for a separate accelerating charge for the secondary projectile. The fragmentation effect is caused by means of the explosive charge and through the housing of the secondary projectile. Because of the construction of the secondary projectile, the fragmentation effect lies primarily in the firing direction, whereby in immediate close proximity to the covering there is produced an only minor fragmentation effect.
In order to improve the fragmentation effect in opposition to the direction of flight of a projectile, in accordance with German Patent Publication No. DE-A1 39 41 445 provision is made that in addition to the fragments present in a nose cone of a projectile, there are provided an explosive charge and nose cone configuredly arranged constructional fragments in the tail end of the projectile. The triggering of the explosive charge at the tail end is effected by means of a centrally located fuze, whereby this fuze separates the forwardly located explosive charge from the rearwardly located explosive charge. The forward explosive charge is triggered through a detonating booster, whereas the rear explosive requires a transfer detonator and behind thereof a detonating transmitter. This detonating transmitter eccentrically initiates the explosive charge at the tail end, in effect, at the outer edge of the explosive charge. Through this one-sided triggering of the explosive charge which is somewhat configured as a hemisphere, there is generated an extremely differing fragment density in the target space. Moreover, the energy of the constructional fragments will correspondingly vary.